Homeschooling Help

With summer here, and summer reading programs in full swing, it is a great time to make a book list for your middle school child.

These book series are great for those kids who are in the middle age range (10-12). Use discretion when choosing books for your child, each family will have different values and standards for their child’s literature choices.

I don’t know about you, but we are almost through the school year. Yay! At the end of the school year it is a good idea to evaluate what worked, and what didn’t.

Here are three questions to ask yourself at the end of the school year. These questions will help you evaluate your school year, let you get a good idea of how it went, and what changes you may need to make.

Is your homeschool child gifted? Most of us will say that all children have a gift. God gives each of us our own gift to use. But I’m talking about academically gifted. A gifted child may be very observant, curious and have excellent reasoning and problem solving skills. Socially, a gifted child will relate well with adults, may be oversensitive, a perfectionist and highly energetic. A gifted child may have an extensive vocabulary, be an early reader, and ask lots of questions. These are just a few traits of a gifted child. To read more, check out this site.

When I first began homeschooling, I was terrified about homeschooling multiple grades. My middle (at that time my youngest) was only two, but the thought of her being in preschool and teaching my oldest at the same time made me cringe. Looking back, I can laugh because I know that preschool isn’t difficult, and teaching Kindergarten is nothing like teaching 4th grade but at the time, it really stressed me out!

Homeschool parents have one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs out there. We have the awesome job of caring for our children on a daily basis. Yet, we also have to play the roles of teacher, nurse, housekeeper, cook and many more. Often times we will go to bed at the end of the day exhausted, and feel like a homeschool failure.